The Metropolitan Planning Commission's zoning enforcement office is restricting the free flow of information and the exchange of ideas via books by using an antiquated law to prohibit Little Free Libraries — free book exchanges — from currently operating, First Amendment experts say.

Paul Baier, a First Amendment scholar at LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center in Baton Rouge, says the application of the law clashes with the First Amendment. Prohibiting the structure, in turn, prohibits activity that is constitutionally protected and restricts how citizens exchange information, he said.

"The city is not respecting the First Amendment rights of the property owners to want a Little Free Library in their front yard to afford a passerby the opportunity to take a book or leave a book, I think the activity the ordinance prohibits is constitutionally protected. And I think if the ordinance were challenged, it would be declared unconstitutional," Baier said.

Mark Sweeney, the MPC's executive director, said the MPC is not opposed to Little Free Libraries. Current city law does not allow the structure in front yards, he said.

"The free flow of information — the exchange of information — is nothing that anybody wants to inhibit," Sweeney said "The catch here is that the current ordinance says, basically, that it doesn't allow this as permissible use in a residential area. And then the other thing is that it's an accessory structure, and we have a rule on our books that says no accessory structures can be in the front yards."

“To say that it violates the zoning restriction that forbids commercial activity — it just goes too far. Government should accommodate the freedom of speech and the library.”

Paul Baier, First Amendment scholar

But the notice Highland residents Ricky and Teresa Edgerton received doesn't say that.

The MPC's zoning division cited Sec. 106-236 of Shreveport's municipal code in a letter stating the Edgertons needed to cease operating their Little Free Library in front of their home on Wilkinson Street. Commercial activity was being conducted at the site and that's prohibited in districts zoned R1-H or single-family residential.

Failure to comply, the notice said, would result in the matter being referred to the city attorney for further action. The Edgertons could appeal but would still have to stop operating the Little Library until the matter was decided. Documents obtained by the Times also refer to commercial activity being conducted at the book exchange site.

The original complaint, logged Nov. 13, also calls the Little Free Library a "3 feet by 3 feet rental box."

"To say that it violates the zoning restriction that forbids commercial activity — it just goes too far," Baier said. "Government should accommodate the freedom of speech and the library."

Marjorie Esman, ACLU of Louisiana executive director, agreed. She said the zoning law was misapplied. Both Baier and Esman were sent web links to the zoning law to review.

Sweeney contends the law was applied properly, but he admits the Little Free Library is not commercial.

"It's definitely not a commercial activity. I would not identify it as that," he said.

The issue, Sweeney said, is the current law mandates that accessory structures, such as a detached storage, must be located in the back and side yards of residences. The structure Ricky Edgerton built to house the books is not identified as a permitted use in one-family residential districts, he said.

The best course of action, he said, is to amend to the ordinance so Little Free Libraries can exist without violating the zoning code. The matter will go before the Shreveport City Council this week, to suspend certain provisions of section 106 of the zoning code to temporarily allow existing Little Free Libraries to remain in place and in use.

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Alexandria Burris talks about The Little Free Library

Sweeney also addressed confusion about the original notice sent to the Edgertons listing commercial activity as the reason for the violation and not the restriction — unlawful accessory structure — now identified as the real reason the couple was cited.

"That probably was not correctly done. And I'll be honest with you, the main crux of what the zoning administrator was saying is that it was not a permitted use and that is an accessory structure," he said. "Once that is addressed then the free libraries will be in a position to operate unhindered."

The complaint

MPC Zoning Administrator Alan Clarke told The Times last week the book exchange box was a library equivalent to Shreve Memorial Library. He said the commission stood by its determination. Clarke could not be reached for comment for this story.

Sweeney says the MPC knows who made the complaint but that person asked not to be named. The complaint was called in via telephone, Sweeney said. Once the complaint was filed, it triggered the investigation.

It's an arbitrary use of power, said Baier, who was a special assistant attorney general in the Louisiana Higher Education Desegregation case.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1977 cities could not stop homeowners from placing "For Sale" signs in front of their homes because it violates First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech. In the case, Linmark Associates v. Township of Willingboro, a town passed an ordinance forbidding "For Sale" signs in residential neighborhoods to stop white flight.

Baier said the Supreme Court ruled people have the right to advertise the sale of their home and ordinances prohibiting the signs violates free speech.

Shreveport isn't the only city to shut down Little Free Libraries once they're discovered.

Kris Huson, director of marketing and communication for Little Free Library, said from time to time Little Free Libraries are cited for zoning code violations.

Recently, a homeowner in Los Angeles was cited for having a Little Free Library on public property. It also was deemed an obstruction.

A north Houston resident was told his Little Free Library needed to come down because he never applied for the permit needed to construct it in a local park. Last year, 9-year-old Spencer Collins made national headlines when officials in Leawood, Kansas, told him to take down his library because it violated a city law prohibiting structures in front yards.

The local council in Leawood approved a temporary moratorium to exempt Little Free Libraries from a zoning ordinance prohibiting structures from front yards.

While Little Free Libraries aren't new, it typically takes time for cities to update their zoning laws to accommodate them, Huson said.

"I've never seen a Little Free Library ordered to be taken down, ultimately, unless it's, like, impeding on a trail or something," Huson said.

As of January 2014, there were 15,000 Little Free Libraries in 56 countries, according to littlefreelibrary.org. The organization, which consulted with Harvard Law School professor Laurence H. Tribe, offers suggestions on how residents can counter zoning restrictions.

Detached structure ordinances used to prohibit Little Free Libraries — but not other small freestanding objects — raise real free speech problems, according to the site.

Permission?

Baier said First Amendment protections for speech extends to hearing, listening and reading books.

"That's a subtle distinction that is required by compromising the city's power to run itself and the free speech rights of its citizens," he said.

While Baier argues for First Amendment protections, Sweeney maintains land use laws, upheld in court, enable the MPC to control the use of residential properties to protect the property values and restrict harmful structures.

"It's not anything about the type of information because that's really being addressed here. It's about how it's being done," he said. "They (the Edgertons) should have come to the city first and asked, 'Can we do this?'"

In Shreveport, the ordinance referenced in the Edgertons' notice seeks to protect the character of suburban and urban one-family detached residential districts by prohibiting all commercial activities. It's been on the books since 1957. Sculptures, fountains, garage sales and other temporary events and home businesses are permitted under certain conditions.

Regina James, a Southern University law professor, offers a different perspective.

James, who also reviewed the zoning law, said while the 14th Amendment guarantees due process of law before depriving any person of life, liberty and property, those protections are subject to limitations guarding the safety and well being of all.

James said the zoning law contains specific language to restrict the structures. In her opinion, the MPC acted within the limits of the law.

“It's about how it's being done. They (the Edgertons) should have come to the city first and asked, 'Can we do this?'”

Mark Sweeney, MPC executive director

Larry Neal, president of the Public Library Association and director of the Clinton-Macomb Public Library near Detroit, said there's clearly a place for zoning laws in society, but they can always be reviewed to see if they are keeping up with what a community wants or needs.

"I think that Little Free Libraries serve a wonderful purpose that sort of harkens back to the founding of public libraries in this country," he said. "It's the notion that anyone can have access to information, that democracy and the exchanging of the ideas freely — a Little Free Library brings out the best in these in terms of access it's extremely local."

The ordinance

City of Shreveport ordinance section code 106-236 reads:

These districts are composed mainly of areas containing one-family dwellings on large building sites and open areas where similar suburban residential development seems likely to occur. In the urban, one-family detached residence districts, few two-family and multifamily dwellings are found, in spite of their more urban location. The district regulations are designed to protect the residential character of the areas by prohibiting all commercial activities; to encourage a suitable environment for family life by including among the permitted uses such facilities as schools and churches; and to preserve the openness of the areas by requiring certain minimum yard and area standards to be met.

About the Little Free Library movement

In 2009, Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one-room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a former teacher who loved reading. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it. He built several more and gave them away. Each one had a sign that said "FREE BOOKS."

Rick Brooks, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, saw Bol's do-it-yourself project while they were discussing potential social enterprises. Together, the two saw opportunities to achieve a wide variety of goals for the common good. Each brought different skills to the effort, Bol as a creative craftsman experienced with innovative enterprise models and Brooks as a youth and community development educator with a background in social marketing.

They were inspired by many different ideas:

Andrew Carnegie's support of 2,509 free public libraries around the turn of the century.

The heroic achievements of Miss Lutie Stearns, a librarian who brought books to nearly 1,400 locations in Wisconsin through "traveling little libraries" between 1895 and 1914.

"Take a book, leave a book" collections in coffee shops and public spaces.